Auto Museum Moncopulli

East of Osorno [1], the Auto Museum Moncopulli (Ruta 215, Km 25, tel. 064/210744, www.moncopulli.cl [2]) is generally open 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daily except in summer, when closing time is 8 p.m. Admission costs US$3 for adults, US$2 for students, and US$1 for children.

Opened in 1995 and steadily improving its offerings, this private automotive museum contains more than 80 historic vehicles, many restored and others awaiting restoration, along with supplementary advertising and marketing materials and other artifacts of the early to mid-20th century.

German collector Bernardo Eggers, the museum’s creator, specializes in the now-obscure Studebaker from its 1850s beginnings as a horsecart manufacturer in South Bend, Indiana, to its first electric automobile (1902) and the plant’s final closure (1966).

With its futuristic style in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Studebaker was one of the most distinctive automobiles ever manufactured in the United States, but it never really caught on with the public.

Professionally arranged, the museum has one shortcoming, a failure to provide any narrative to give it meaning beyond its creator’s enthusiasm. That said, for anyone passing alongside it on the highway to Parque Nacional Puyehue [3] and the Argentine border, it’s well worth at least a brief stop. Classic car fans may want to go out of their way to see it.